


Going Places (That I’ve Never Been)

by Raisintorte



Category: Eureka
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 05:58:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1090435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raisintorte/pseuds/Raisintorte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Vincent gets lost and Jack and Jo save the day.  With a little help from Fargo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going Places (That I’ve Never Been)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [twistedchick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedchick/gifts).



> Spoilers for Alienated.

“Jo, Jo! You gonna get that?” Jack yelled over the incessant ringing of the phone.  He was in the bathroom trying to clean the seemingly massive quantities of cow poop off his uniform, which he had gotten all over himself during their last call.  Some very angry bovines had decided to chase Dr. McMasters up a tree and were in the process of knocking it down when Jack and Jo had shown up.  It turned out that using certain pheromones to try and get the cows to produce “perfect milk” (whatever that meant, McMasters had explained it using a lot of big sciencey words but Jack had tuned him out) was just generally a bad idea.  Anyway, after Taggart had shown up and corralled the cows, and after Dr. McMasters was safely back on the ground, Jack had somehow ended up with cow poop all over his pants.  Of course, Jo had walked away smelling like a rose and laughing at him.  And to top it all off, she hadn’t let him ride in her car.  He'd had to hitch a ride back to town with Taggart.  

“Seriously, Jo, I’m kinda in the middle of . . .” Jack paused and looked down at the pants he was scrubbing in the sink, “. . . well, cleaning up shit, so please answer the phone.”  

“Fine!” Jo yelled from main office room.  He heard her murmuring, and then heard her slam the phone back down and walk toward the bathroom.  “Just put on your spare uniform and let’s go, Carter!  Fargo just called from the diner - Vincent didn’t open on time this morning and no one can find him anywhere.  Looks like we have a missing person on our hands.”  

Jack thought Jo sounded a little more gleeful than necessary about the idea that one of the citizens of Eureka was missing, but he had learned to keep those comments to yourself. “Jo, I don’t have a spare uniform here.  You think I would be scrubbing poop out of my pants if I had a spare one?”  Jack sighed knowing he had no other options and put on his still wet, but slightly-less-poopy-than-before uniform pants and followed Jo back to the main room to grab his gear.  “You should head out to Vincent’s house to check if he's there, I’ll check the diner.”

Jo paused from gathering up an arsenal of weapons and looked at him. “No need to check his house.  Fargo had Spencer check it out before he called us.  Vincent wasn’t there.” Jo continued to fill her gear bag with what seemed liked way more fire power than necessary for a simple missing persons call, but then again, this was Eureka and there was no such thing as a simple missing persons call.  Jack grabbed an extra taser just in case.   

“Not to knock on Spencer’s detective skills, but how are we sure he isn’t just sleeping in his basement. Or visiting a friend?”  Jack paused because he wasn’t sure if Vincent had any friends of the overnight variety, but he certainly wasn’t going to rely on Spencer’s search skills.  

“Jack, it's _Vincent_.  Even in the great fake snow storm of 2007, he still opened Cafe Diem on time.  He is never late for work. And Spencer had Henry with him, and Henry didn’t find any trace of Vincent either.  I think we can trust Henry.”  Jo's tone implied that she thought Jack was just wasting her time with stupid questions.

“Yes, we can trust Henry.   Though, I would like to point out that time when you all watched that scary movie and it made you crazy and you tried to dissect a Congressman?" Jack paused for effect because he just kinda loved needling Jo about this particular incident. "Yeah, I’m pretty sure Vincent didn’t show up for work that day.” 

Jo narrowed her eyes and headed for the door without comment.  Jack would likely pay for that comment later in some not so subtle way, but he would take it where he could get it.  When they got close to Cafe Diem, Jack could see a herd of citizens milling around outside Cafe Diem and Fargo was frantically waving at them from just outside the door.  

“What took you so long?!” Fargo said impatiently as soon as they walked up to the door of Cafe Diem.  “I called you like five minutes ago!  Vincent could be in serious trouble and you guys are dawdling around and - what in the world is that smell?”  Fargo paused and wrinkled his nose at Jack.

“Carter stepped in shit on our last call,” Jo informed Fargo before Jack had a chance to speak.

“Thanks, Jo.  I didn’t see you stepping in to help Taggart wrangle that last angry cow.” Jack huffed.  Somehow, at the end of the day, he was always the one who ended up covered in whatever disgusting item happened to be present at any given call.

Jo looked like she was about to say something back, but Fargo cut her off. “Enough, you two!  Vincent is missing!  And I need my morning Vinspresso! I mean - my friend is missing and I am worried!”

“Alright, then - let’s go inside and see if we can find some clues.”  Jack unlocked the door with his spare key to Cafe Diem (it was a requirement of owning a business in Eurkea that the Sheriff’s office be provided with a spare key in case of any . . . incidents) and headed inside with Jo and Fargo behind him.  The rest of the townsfolk looked like they wanted to follow as well, but Jack stopped them.  “Okay everyone, I’m sure Vincent will appreciate the support, but in case there is something wrong, I need everyone to wait outside.  That means you, too, Fargo.”

The group gathered outside Cafe Diem all started talking at once:

“But I need my cinnamon bun!”

“I need my cruller”

“He always makes my morning tea! If I don’t have my tea I can’t work, and if I can’t work -”

“Quiet!” Jack shouted trying to get everyone’s attention. “You will all get all of those things when we find Vincent and he opens up Cafe Diem for the day.” Jack paused and the crowd started speaking over eachother again.  “Enough!  Now I need everyone to stay out here while Jo and I investigate the situation.”  His facial expression must have telegraphed that he was not fooling around because everyone backed away except Fargo, who tried to follow them inside.

Jack turned around and put his arm out to block Fargo from entering Cafe Diem.  “Fargo, that means you, too.”

“Sheriff, what if you need something . . . sciencey done? This saves you having to come back out and get me or call Henry or Alison.  Speaking of Alison, isn’t she dealing with that big DOD audit team this week? I don’t think it would look that good if someone went missing during her audit . . .” Fargo looked expectantly at Jack as he finished pleading his case.

“Fine, fine, but just this once.”  Jack moved aside and waved for Fargo to follow Jo into the Cafe and then closed and locked the door behind them.  The citizens of Eureka all had their morning rituals and he wouldn’t put it past any of the horde outside to follow them in and just take what they wanted and get in the way of any investigation he was running or whatever Eureka-y thing was going on inside in the cafe.  

“Not to be rude, Sheriff, but you should really do something about that smell.  It is extremely unpleasant.” Fargo wrinkled his nose at Jack.  

“Fargo!” Jack barked at Fargo hoping just looking stern would shut him up. Jo had already walked behind the counter and was checking for signs of Vincent.

“Coffee pot’s warm, Carter.  Looks like Vincent has been here. From what I can see, it looks like he started all of his normal morning prep.  How about you and Fargo check out the bathroom and storeroom and I’ll check the kitchens?”

“Sounds good. Fargo, come on.”  Jack motioned Fargo to follow him.

Fargo paused for a second and looked at Jo’s back forlornly. “Why can’t I go with Jo?  No offense, Sheriff, but you stink.”

“Fargo, you want to go back outside?” Jack glowered at Fargo.  

“No, Sheriff, but you really should see about keeping a spare uniform at the office.” Fargo cast another glance toward Jo's back as she disappeared into the kitchen.  

“Enough Fargo. I will check out the men’s room and you check out the -”

“Carter!” Jo yelled, “I think you need to get back here. Now.”

Jack grabbed his gun and taser and went running into the kitchen with Fargo on his heels.  When he reached Jo she was standing in front of Vincent’s open freezer, he did a double take. Where the normal back wall of the freezer was supposed to be, there was a giant . . . cavern.

“Oh, that cannot be good.” Jack holstered his taser and started walking toward the cavern when Fargo grabbed his arm.

“I’m not sure that's the best idea, Sheriff.” Fargo looked down and scuffed his feet as he spoke, making Jack wonder just how much he knew about Vincent’s situation.

“Anything you want to tell me, Fargo?” Jack shook his head a little as he spoke, knowing whatever Fargo told him was going to give him a migraine.  

“Well, you see,” Fargo paused,  “I was working on this device where you make something bigger on the inside than the outside, because how cool would it be to have your own T.A.R.D.I.S. and what I made instead appears to create a basic-ish holographic program.”

“So you are saying that cavern is a hologram?” Jack felt the migraine starting in his temples as he spoke.

“Yes, but it’s a GD-style hologram." Jo was nodding in understanding as Fargo spoke, but Jack had no idea what that meant.

 “And that means?” Jack’s migraine was getting worse with every word that came out of Fargo’s mouth.

“It’s pretty much as good as a real cavern. And I’m not sure how big it is.”  Fargo’s hands were moving as emphatically as he was speaking, but it wasn't making the words coming out of his mouth any more clear.

“And how did Vincent get it?” Jack asked the question, but it was pretty clear Fargo had something to do with it.  

“I - uh - was telling him about it, and when I realized it wasn’t going to do what I wanted, I might have told him he could program it to create the perfect beach vacation.  He found his freezer so boring, and he thought if there was a beach scene at the back, it would be more fun everytime he came in!”

“So instead of a beach, he got a cavern, and there is a very good possibility he is stuck in that cavern?” Jack picked up what he assumed was the hologram device from a table by the freezer and examined it.  It was just a small found black device with three buttons and a touchpad in the middle -  no noticable on or off switch or noticeable  way to even determine how it was set.

Fargo scuffed his feet a little and said sheepishly, “Yes.”

“Well, why don’t you just shut it off?  Won’t he just reappear?” From the look on Fargo’s face, he knew his question would be considered stupid by GD employees, but seriously, wasn’t that the first rule of tech support - if it doesn’t work turn it off and on again?

“Well, we could try that, but there is a good possibility that he could be stuck in there forever.” Fargo definitely didn’t look too sure of the results either way, so Jack set down the device so he wouldn’t accidentally turn it off and trap Vincent forever.  

“Okay, that’s it.  I’m calling Henry.” Jack got out his phone and was about to dial when Fargo batted it out of his hand and threw it into the cavern.  “Fargo, what the hell?”

“You - can’t call Henry.” Fargo said, looking extremely concerned at the thought of Henry getting involved.

Jo shook her head and started grabbing what appeared to be spelunking gear out of her bag. “You didn’t have permission to be working on this project? Did you, Fargo?”

“I didn’t - exactly - have permission, no.” Fargo looked more and more sheepish as every minute went by.

“Alright, so we go in and get him.” Jack grabbed his flashlight.  “Fargo, anything we should know about this before we go in?” he asked as he checked his gun and his clip.

“Well, I didn’t exactly program the cavern - ” Fargo paused as if he really didn’t want to tell Jo or Jack the rest of the details. “I may have borrowed the basics of the device from one of the military applications programs for training soldiers and tried to modify it, so there may be some military holograms on it,  and this _may_ be one of them.”

“Of course you borrowed a military program.” Jack shook his head because he didn’t think he would ever get used to the crazy things that just happened in Eureka. “All right. You stay here and Jo and I will go and find Vincent. Hopefully he didn’t stray too far from the opening.”

Jo handed him one of the fancy GD rifles and stopped just before entrance of the cavern. “He shouldn’t have - he passed the mandatory survival skills class GD made everyone take last year.  I told everyone, if you are lost, stay in one place.”

“Let’s hope he was paying attention. Okay, Jo, you take point, I’ll follow.” As soon as they stepped into the cavern, the light changed and it became a much darker place.  They could still see Fargo waiting by the entrance, but it was disorienting.  “So, Jo, any idea how this works?  I know we are walking through what I thought was a wall, and we don’t have those special glasses on, yet we aren’t hitting the wall and we are moving forward.”

“Carter, if I understood exactly how a hologram that is supposed to make something bigger on the inside worked, I wouldn’t be hunting down missing diner owner in a cavern created by a bored wannabe scientist.” Jo shouted the last two words and turned toward where Fargo was standing as she spoke.  Even with the disorienting effect Jack could see Fargo shrivel under her glare.

“Fair point. I think we should stay together.  Hopefully Vincent is just out of sight of the entrance and has followed his training - where did you get those?” Jack stopped to watch as Jo was throwing out what looked like small light up LED bread crumbs every five feet or so as they walked along.

“Carter, how do you not have these? They are the latest in tech for tracking and marking locations.  They were in the package sent down from GD last week for us to put in our car kits - and you haven’t even opened the box, have you?” Jo shook her head and she threw down more LED breadcrumbs.

“Nope. I’ll do that right when we get back to the office,” Jack said as earnestly as he could, but they both knew he wouldn’t.

“Sure you will." Jo smiled and kept walking. "Vincent - It’s Jo and Carter - if you can hear us, call out.”

“Vincent! Vincent!” Jack and Jo kept walking and shouting Vincent’s name as they went deeper and deeper into the really dark and creepy cavern.

After about five minutes of walking and shouting Jack motioned for Jo to stop as he saw fork in the cavern coming up. “Jo, if we don’t find him soon, I think we need to call in a search team, as much as I loathe involving GD Security.  Looks like your training didn’t work - if he had followed it, we should have found him well before now.  The cavern has pretty much been a straight line until this point, so I’m not sure where he could have gotten lost.” As Jack was speaking he heard something to his left and turned just as Vincent appeared to fall out of a wall next to them.

“Jo, Sheriff Carter, thank god.” Vincent grabbed Jack and pulled him close into a bear hug.  “I thought I was going to die in here.  Fargo gave me this thing, and - “

Jo cut him off and tried to extricate herself from the hug Vincent was attempting to give her. “We know, he was the one who called you in missing.”

“He better have! I walked in just to check it out but I lost my bearings when I lost the door and I couldn’t find it again, so I started walking a little further in, but then I remembered Jo telling us to stay put -”

“Ha!” Jo shot a look of triumph at Jack.

“- if we ever got lost so I just stopped at this wall and hoped someone would come and find me.  This place is really bizarre as I couldn't really see or hear either of you until you were right in front of me.” Vincent didn’t look too worse for wear from his ordeal, but he did look a little frazzled.  

“Well, we did, so now we should leave and then turn this creepy ass cavern device off.” Jo said as she started turning back toward the entrace.

Jack couldn't have agreed more. “Agreed.  Let's go.” Jack took the lead with Vincent in the middle and Jo bringing up the rear as they followed Jo’s LED breadcrumbs back toward the entrance.  Jack could easily see how Vincent had gotten lost - without the breadcrumbs Jo had thrown out, even though there were no real turns the cavern had an effect that made you lose your bearings.  He had no idea what the military had requested when GD had designed this thing and he wasn't sure he wanted to know.  He was quite happy when saw the entrance and Fargo waiting expectantly at the door. Fargo was also clearly relieved and gave a visible sigh of relief when he saw Vincent behind Jack.

“Oh thank god! I was so worried about you and you are okay and now I’m not going to get fired - “ Fargo paused. “Oh god, Sheriff, are you going to file a report?  I really don’t want to get fired.”

Jack looked at Jo and Vincent. “Well, it’s really up to Vincent as to what goes in my report as he was the one most affected by this incident, but if he agrees, I see no reason to mention that you were illegally using GD equipment to try and build some type of fake spaceship.”

Vincent looked like he was considering his options for a moment before he spoke.  “Well, I’m okay, and Sheriff Carter and Jo found me, so I don’t see any reason to make a bigger deal out of this than necessary." Vincent paused and turned toward Fargo with a smile on his face.  "Besides, I have several appliances that I need fixed, and I think that could be a good trade.”

“Well, I’m not really into - “ Fargo started to speak when he was interrupted by Jo.

“Fargo, take the deal.  Now, shut off the device,” Jo said.

Fargo grabbed the device from where Jack had left it and pressed a short sequence of buttons and in a blink the cavern was gone and the back wall of Vincents freezer was back.  Jo took the device from Fargo and packed it into a hazardous tech box.  They are started walking out of the freezer toward the kitchen. 

Vincent paused when they reached the kitchen and wrinkled his nose and sniffed around. “What in the world is that smell? Did someone bring poop into my diner?”

“Carter stepped in poop.” Jo appeared to be relishing telling everyone about the incident earlier.

Vincent looked absolutely horrified.  “Sheriff, you brought _poopy_ pants into my diner? This is an eating establishment!”

“Okay, Vincent, next time, I will make sure I have a perfectly pressed and cleaned uniform before I save your ass.” Jack grumbled.

“Well, when you put it that way . . .” Vincent said grudgingly with a look that clearly said he was still upset Carter had brought cow poop into his diner.

Jack had had enough for one day. “On that note, Jo, I think you can handle the paperwork from here and I think Vincent likely wants to get Cafe Diem open so the clamoring hordes outside can have their morning coffee and whatevers,  I am going to go home, shower, get a fresh uniform, and hope when I get back to the office we are going to have a nice, quiet day."  Jo, Fargo, and Vincent all looked at him as if he was crazy and had jinxed himself by even saying those words, but he didn't believe in jinxes. 

As Jack was walking out the door he heard a loud boom in the distance and saw smoke coming from the direction of Henry's shop,  He could hear Jo laughing at him from the kitchen, and as he got in his car he knew his chances of changing any time soon were getting slimmer, but maybe he would just hope for a quiet day by _Eureka_ standards. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my wonderful betas Smittywing and Wojelah.


End file.
